When: There are a few teams that are truly separating themselves early on as being among the NBA’s elite. The Golden State Warriors are one of them, and their superstar — Stephen Curry – is this week’s Post Player of the Week.

What’s up: In four games Curry shot the lights out. What else would we expect? He averaged 27.3 points on 52.2 percent shooting from the field, including 48.6 percent from the 3-point line during the evaluation period of Nov. 22-28. Curry added 6.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in that span. The Warriors won all four games.

1. There is a cap on tempo. Bet you never thought you’d see this: There is a pace that’s too fast for the Nuggets, and on Wednesday it was The Flash brand of basketball played by Phoenix. It’s not as if the Nuggets can’t run up-and-down the court and score when the game gets lightning fast. They can. The issue with these Nuggets is turnovers. When the game speeds up, the Nuggets get more careless. And that was part of the problem, no doubt. But there were a number of unforced errors when the pace was slower as well.

Kirk Hinrich is one of the league’s toughest on-ball defenders, but Ty Lawson made getting around him look easy in the Nuggets’ 114-109 win over the Bulls at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.

Lawson, who only had two points in the first half, turned it up offensively in the second, pouring in 18 points in the final 18 minutes to go along with with his 12 assists and three steals. Read more…

Dallas Mavericks guard Monta Ellis gets the by Sacramento Kings’ Ray McCallum (3) and Carl Landry, bottom left, for a score in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Nov. 11, 2014, in Dallas. (Tony Gutierrez, The Associated Press)

Spotlight on… Monta Ellis, guard, Mavericks

When: You need to look no farther than the state of Texas to find one of the hottest teams in the NBA — the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs are off to a fast start this season, and Monta Ellis, The Denver Post’s NBA player of the week, is a huge reason.

What’s up: Ellis was superb during the evaluation period of Nov. 15-21 with averages of 25.5 points and 4.8 assists in four games for the Mavericks, all wins. Eills shot 50.7 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from 3-point range and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe. He was a plus-16.8 in those contests going into Saturday’s game against in-state rival Houston.

1. Rotation matters. In the last two games, the Nuggets have doled out the lion’s share of the minutes to these five players – Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Timofey Mozgov. Here’s how that breaks down: Those five, the Nuggets’ starting five, have played 44 minutes out of a possible 96, so 45 percent of the time.

Memphis Grizzlies’ Vince Carter wipes his eyes during a tribute to him by the Toronto Raptors during first-half NBA basketball action in Toronto, on Nov. 19, 2014. (The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press via AP)

Vinsanity lives in Toronto. At least for one more night.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Vince Carter was moved to tears Wednesday during a video tribute in the first quarter by Toronto Raptors to its former star. The clip featured highlights from Carter’s six years playing with the team where he was dubbed “Air Canada.”

The crowd gave Carter a standing ovation.

“I hate that it ended that way,” Carter said in the video. “Just because of so many memories here and we had great times here.”

The top overall pick in the D-League’s 2001 draft, Andersen went on to become one of the NBA’s top defensive big men. He played a total of six-plus seasons with the Nuggets in two different stints, and picked up the nickname “Birdman” from Nuggets teammates Junior Harrington and Kenny Satterfield in along the way because of his impressive dunks.

The Nuggets amnestied Andersen in 2012, but six months later he signed a 10-day contract with Miami and was kept on for the remainder of the season, helping LeBron James and the Heat to a title in 2013. Last July he signed a two-year deal to stay with the Heat.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw directs his team during its win Monday over Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

CLEVELAND – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 106-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

1. Starters revenge. Let’s face it: The Nuggets’ starting crew has been a battered bunch – from criticism. And justifiably so in most every case; it hadn’t been a noteworthy early season for them as the Nuggets routinely got out to slow starts and in some cases carried those slow starts throughout feet-in-quicksand full-game performances. But on Monday the starters were the stars. They were the source of the vast majority of production – 81 of the Nuggets’ 106 points, 26 of the 39 rebounds, 17 of the 25 assists – kept the pressure up defensively, the pedal to the metal offensively and made the majority of the game-changing plays. Read more…

Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo clears out some room between himself and New York guard Pablo Prigioni during Sunday’s game. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 109-93 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

1. Connelly staying calm. None of this is what anyone in the Nuggets organization, most of all general manager Tim Connelly, wanted. The Nuggets’ 2-7 start – with a game coming up in Cleveland looming – is exactly the opposite of what he’d envisioned the start for his rapidly-healing team might be. But it has underperformed. Still, at this point Connelly says he’s not pressing the panic button. “Certainly we’ve struggled,” he said after the game. “But it’s early.” Read more…

The Nuggets just got destroyed (again), this time 109-93 to the Knicks in New York. After starting out hot, the Nuggets shot 29 percent in the last three quarters and made only one field goal in the second, when JaVale McGee also airballed that free throw. It was perhaps lowest point of another low point in the Nuggets’ 2-7 season. Read more…

NEW YORK – Gary Harris will suit up for his second straight game, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said Sunday morning.

The rookie impressed in his NBA debut, scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. He added two steals and a block, displaying flashes of the type of defense he was known for in his two collegiate seasons at Michigan State.

“I liked the fact that he was poised,” Shaw said. “It was his first NBA action, in his hometown, and he looked like he belonged. He didn’t look back. He was very aggressive offensively, he was aggressive defensively. It was exactly what we needed. I think he got caught up a couple of times because he was going good, had a couple of heat-checks. But for the most part I was encouraged by his performance.”Read more…

New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (23) backs in on Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game Monday, Nov. 10, 2014, in Cleveland. (The Associated Press)

Spotlight on… Anthony Davis, PF, New Orleans

When: Several players are off to great starts, and that list certainly includes New Orleans center Anthony Davis. For his blazing start and domination on both ends of the court, he’s The Denver Post’s NBA player of the week.

What’s up: Few players have been hotter than Davis, who averaged 25.3 points 10.3 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 2.8 steals per game in four games and shot 64.2 percent from the field. New Orleans won three of those four games, and Davis was among the NBA leaders in plus/minus at plus-11.

Background: Davis was squarely on the radar before the season, identified by many as a potential breakout star. And he’s living up to expectations, perhaps even exceeding them. He is quickly making his case as the NBA’s best power forward, leading a team trying to make the playoffs out of the league’s toughest division, the Southwest.

Dempsey’s take: The beauty of Davis’ game is how effortless it appears. The former Kentucky star runs the court and hits jump shots like a guard. Defensively, Davis blocks shots of the man he’s guarding as well as on his “help side.” He is setting a new standard for how that position is to be played at a time when older players who have dominated the position, such as Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, are riding off into the sunset of their careers.

Nuggets guard Gary Harris played his first NBA game Friday, against the Pacers, scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting in about 18:30 minutes in the Denver victory. After missing the first seven games of the season because of an injury, Harris got to put on a show in his home state (he’s from Fishers, about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis), and his mom was in the stands to see it all.

Well, most of it anyway.

With about 10:20 to go in the fourth quarter, he drove to the bucket and completely posterized 6-foot-11 Ian Mahinmi. NBA cameras caught every angle, but his mother, Joy Harris, a former WNBA player for the Detroit Shock, didn’t catch one.

Thank goodness for YouTube.

Ok yes I missed the dunk live but I've watched the replay 100 times now.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw’s post-game press conference after his team’s lackluster 130-113 loss to Portland on Wednesday lasted all of one minute, 14 seconds as he delivered the message needed and headed back to his office in the locker room.

Frustration is, understandably, perhaps starting to build within the Nuggets. Denver lost its fifth straight game Sunday, 116-110 to the Trail Blazers in Portland, and late in the fourth quarter, things got a little ugly between Kenneth Faried and Blazers guard Steve Blake.

With about 7:15 left, Faried set a blind screen on Blake near the top of the key and added an extra push while doing so. Blake, clearly unhappy about the push, sent an elbow to Faried’s chest. Faried fell to the floor only to quickly get up and get in Blake’s face. The two had to be separated by teammates.

After the game, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts told CSNNW.com that he could see why Blake was upset about the play, but admitted he didn’t know if it was dirty.

1. Finding Afflalo. On Sunday morning, after the team meeting adjourned, Arron Afflalo stayed with coaches to watch more film and ask questions about how he could get a better foothold on his role in the offense. It has been a lukewarm start for Afflalo, now averaging 10.8 points, but against the Trail Blazers he appeared much more fluid within the Nuggets’ offense, which doesn’t necessarily target any one player. Afflalo looked more confident in getting to his spots and more decisive and confident with the ball and more at ease with what his teammates were doing around him.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw attributed his season-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting to Ty Lawson’s presence back in the lineup. “I think it was a direct correlation with the return of Ty and his aggressiveness that got him going,” Shaw said. “So hopefully they’ll continue to find a groove and figure it out.”

PORTLAND – The sitting was getting to J.J. Hickson. He knows he was to blame for his season-opening five-game suspension, but on Sunday he was ready to start to make it right.

Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo goes up for two of his 18 points against Portland on Sunday. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

His eight points and 10 rebounds was a solid place to start.

“I thought he was active,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “He got eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds and that’s huge. That’s something he can really do, he’s an elite rebounder per minute when he’s in the game at his position.”

Hickson played 14 minutes in his return, which came against Portland, his former team. He’s also coming off of ACL surgery earlier this year and is limited to 20 minutes per game for the time being. Afterward he expressed encouragement with his first outing. Read more…

When: The first full week of the NBA season provided a lot of surprises, perhaps none as big as by the Sacramento Kings, who have gotten out to their first 5-1 start in several years. The best player has been do-everything center DeMarcus Cousins.

What’s up: Cousins was dominant in four games last week, averaging 27 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and a steal as Sacramento went 4-0, including a big one at Phoenix on Friday night.

1. Point guard depth. After the game, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said the concern level at his backup point guard depth is “high” on days when starter Ty Lawson can’t play, like on Friday night against Cleveland. But he in fact ought to be encouraged by the play he got from the players at the position. Led by Randy Foye’s 28 points and nine assists, Nuggets point guards scored 48 points and dished out 15 assists against the Cavaliers. The trio of Foye, Nate Robinson and Erick Green shot 19-of-36 from the field (52.7 percent) and 7-of-17 from the 3-point line (41.1 percent). They were the lead players in what was by far the Nuggets’ best shooting game of the season as a team — and had just four turnovers. The Nuggets’ offensive execution had its best day of the season. There hasn’t been a more calming game as it relates to what the Nuggets are doing behind Ty Lawson, in fact, than this one.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.